A former British police officer and ex-prison officer have admitted selling information to Rupert Murdoch’s Sun tabloid about high-profile individuals, media reports said today.
They are the first suspects held as part of a UK investigation into alleged illegal payments by British journalists to public officials to plead guilty.
The Guardian reported that Alan Tierney, an ex-Surrey police constable, and former prison officer Richard Trunkfield, both pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office at the Old Bailey today. Tierney admitted selling details of the separate arrests of John Terry's mother and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood to the Sun. He will be sentenced on 27 March.
Trunkfield, 31, from Moulton, Northamptonshire, pleaded guilty to selling information about a "high-profile prisoner’’to the tabloid.
The pair were arrested as part of Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden inquiry into alleged illegal payments by journalists to police and other public officials.
On Wednesday, News Corp boss Australian Rupert Murdoch met 24 Sun journalists on bail after being arrested for alleged payments to police and public officials for stories, the Guardian said.